If you don’t know what a blog is or you don’t seem to understand all that you can actually do with a blog, I must say, you’re in luck and It might interest you to know that you’re not alone because a lot of people still get to ask me questions like;
What is a blog?
Should I have a blog or a website?
which do you recommend?
Can you please defined a blog?
Are blogs just websites?
What is the difference between a blog and a website? and so on.
Actually it is from some of these questions that the misconception about blogs and blogging seems to come from. However I will be doing my best to provide detailed answers to these questions in some of my future articles but for today, let us find out what actually is a blog?
There are quite a number of ways to look at this especially bearing in mind that it means a whole lot of things to different people and the purpose for creating a website could actually influence the decision of what kind of website one puts up.
For instances, if all an individual wants is to be able to do a personal/family updates on any issue that is of interest to him and/or the family in question then he might be considering using the blog platform.
What of the individual internet marketer, affiliate marketer and/or niche marketer who knows the importance of blogging and who would love to maximax it use to drive in thousands of traffic and inturn make more in profit?
Another group of persons to consider are those that falls into the business category …let say all a business person want is to be able to have a website that is quite professionally and that he would easily update without the help of anyone, saving himself and his business the cost of having to pay for site management.
Now, there are many other instance but for the ones above, could it be possible or do I say best for them to have a blog as there website? …That’s actually a choice they will have to make but for a better understanding of the subject at hand, let look at some of the basic types of websites.
1) A static HTML website which might have to be built from scratch using a web language like HTML or a web authoring program (eg. HTML editor such as FrontPage) and so on.
2) An online forum.
3) A Blog.
While you can have a website using any of the above types or others that are not listed, you should bear in mind that the purpose you want achieved will help determine what choice of website will be most suitable.
For instance, why a church, business or organization with the need to update it site regular may have a website created using HTML language, it will definitely find it more convenience to have a Wordpress CMS Blog in place, which after a proper customization can be made to look just like any normal website.
And if there is need to adjust or to do away with any or all of the features that comes with a blog such as; blogroll, comments, RSS feeds etc. It can as well be done.
Also, it won’t just be fine for them to settle for an online forum as their site unless in a situation where they want to use it for support especially for the business type website and even at that it could just be an addition to the main site.
My working definition of what a blog is.
Though I find it quite challenge to defined a blog, I have my working definition as – a blog is whatever the person or group of persons that created or wants to create a blog wants out of it.
Simply put, a blog is whatever we want them to be …they are whatever we make of them. That’s to say the heart and soul of any blog is the owner and/or the group of persons behind it.
You see, today blogs are being used for all sorts of purposes that why am only able to defined a blog after I have been able to understand the purpose for such a blog.
How then do you different a blog from other types of websites?
Generally speaking a blog is basically a type of website with its own technicality and unique features that differentiate it form other websites like; the one created by coding – HTML, or online forum.
It is these unique features that characterize a blog. Some of which are:
1) Easy and regularly updates of content
2) Content is published in a chronological order
3) Readers can leave instant replies, comments or feedback
4) Content can be syndicated via RSS feeds
5) Blogs can interact with one another through trackbacks and pingbacks
6) Blogrolls and/or links
Blog and its defining elements which includes; reverse chronology order, post, links, comments, RSS feeds etc are no rocket science. I shall find time to discuss them in my feature articles.
However, if we are to limit the definition of blog to its above features then you should bear in mind that it takes more than one of the above features to classify a website as a blog, infact you did need the whole features present before you can call a website a blog …after all an online forum also comes with the possibility of instance feedback and also do have RSS in place but none of this will actually make it a blog.
Finally, before I end this article, I love to say, If you are new to blogging, there is no need to get scared with the above details and don’t even allow its technicality to stop you. There is absolutely nothing to worry about.
Now if you are already a highly technical person when it comes to blogs, I hope you will agree with me If I say blogs and blogging should take a whole different meaning from what most of us have come to see it to mean.
The definition above is my personal approach to blogs and blogging, I am sure that some of you will have your own thought to it. Whether you are in agreement or not, feel free to share you view but not without a brief explanation. Thanks in advance.
N.B: To readers that have already bookmarked this site and those who did informed me of how they enjoy the content on this site, I want to say am back now. I have been away from this site for sometime now, it was not 100% intentional however I had to take the vacation to enable me put a lot in place.
Please accept my apology. You will now be able to read from me more frequently. Let me also use this opportunity to wish all my readers especially my fellow Nigerians A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
MAY THIS BE A YEAR THAT YOU WILL BLOG YOUR ACCOUNT TO OVERFLOW.